When you think of Birmingham, what’s the first thing that jumps to mind? Industry may be at the forefront of your mind, as the area is synonymous with the industrial revolution and modern manufacturing. If not that, it may be the cultural hallmarks – the accent, the dialect, the sport teams etc. What won’t necessarily jump to the front of your thinking is the TV and Film industry.
It’s forgivable, as most people would presume that most TV and Film related production is centred in or around London. For the most part, production of this kind is localised to London, but the rest of the UK has it’s fair share of output. Lets look at some of the film and TV shows made in the area, as well as look at the men and women who make them that call Birmingham home.
Films
While we’re certainly not a “one-trick pony”, Birmingham and it’s surrounding areas don’t offer the variety of locations that somewhere like California would. What Birmingham can bring is a vast, sprawling cityscape, that covers the entire social and economic spectrum.
N.F.A. (No Fixed Abode) – A mystery thriller about a man who wakes up in a homeless shelter in Birmingham, with no recollection of how he got there.
Toast – A change of pace from what we saw above, this BBC produced TV movie is a dramatisation of the autobiographical novel of the same name, written by food critic Nigel Slater. Filmed in Birmingham, the movie is actually set in Wolverhampton in the 1960s.
TV
Toast is just one sign of the BBC’s big involvement in Birmingham media output. The corporation has filmed many TV series in the area over the years. The most recent success story is that of Peaky Blinders, a tale of a local gang in post-WW1 Birmingham. It was critically praised upon it’s release last year, and starred notable hollywood actors like Cillian Murphy (Batman Begins, 28 Days Later) and Sam Neill (Jurassic Park).
But this is hardly the first. The final three seasons of Hustle, soap opera Doctors, and the 1930s set Dancing on the Edge all filmed in or close to Birmingham. But BBC aren’t the only TV channel with ties to the area. Channel 5’s The Gadget Show has long been filmed in the city, and holds it big exhibition shows at the NEC centre.
TV adverts are also filmed in the city. Actually, a 2012 Cravendale advert brought Hollywood royalty to the area, as none other than Kermit the Frog filmed an ad where he got himself a backpack of . . . himself. He was upstaged however by Pepe the Flea, who had a magic potato. Yep, even by Cravendale standards (cats with thumbs, stalker cows, etc.), this was pretty weird.
Personnel
Birmingham is not short on famous faces from the big and small screen either. While the city may be more famous for it’s contributions to rock music, notable actors Trevor Eve (Waking the Dead), Kenny Baker (R2D2 from Star Wars) and Kevin McNally (Mr. Gibbs from Pirates of the Caribbean), all hail from the city. Oddly, the Weasley family from Harry Potter has three Birmingham born actors in it’s ranks – the twins Fred and George are played by James and Oliver Phelps respectively, while mom Molly Weasley is played by Julie Walters (there is also a 4th West Midlands actor in the family, as Mark Williams, who played Arthur Weasley, is from Bromsgrove).
Outside of the industry
Not only does it participate in the manufacturing of media, but Birmingham also has lots of establishments tasked with educating the next generation of directors, editors and actors. Several of the cities college, and it’s two biggest Universities, University of Birmingham and Birmingham City University, offer course in TV and Film production. Offering state of the art equipment, highly experienced tutors, and links to industry giants, there are few places in the country that can match Birmingham in this aspect of the film industry.
There are also several festivals held in the city. The Flatpack Festival, a wide spread festival of all things independent filmmaking, will be taking place in March 2015, in venues across the city. The Brindleyplace Outdoor Film Festival will also be running next year, playing movies that are voted upon by the public. Birmingham also played host to the Human Rights Film Festival in 2012.